Knowing they were now in the OUA West driver's seat, the No. 2 Lakehead Thunderwolves went out Saturday and got the job done.
Ryan Thomson scored 25 points, the starting five had a much better night after drawing the wrath of Lakehead coach Scott Morrison the night before and the Wolves took sole possession of first place in the division with an 84-72 home-court win over the last place Waterloo Warriors.
"I think it was a little bit of extra motivation," said Thomson, an Oakville, Ont. native. "We saw how (Laurier) got beat today and we couldn't let up at all. We had to come out with the same intensity and focus, that we should (have) every other game, really.
"It was just added incentive, I think."
Morrison compared it to a battle one might find on the Discovery Channel.
"We tried to the use the analogy of the sharks, saying there was a little bit of blood in the water and now it's time to circle and go in for the kill," Morrison said.
"We talked about how the sharks don't smell the blood – or whatever they do with the blood – and hang out, which is what the danger is. So we're going to keep talking about that and nothing's guaranteed, but at least Laurier gave us a chance to see that there is a reward for us if we can take care of business the next couple of weeks."
Thomson said no one is counting anything as fact just yet and know there are no guarantees, just because the Wolves are sitting at a lofty 16-2 with just four games to go, two on the road against Brock (9-9) next weekend and the regular-season finale the following week in Thunder Bay against Guelph (8-10).
"We still have four games left to make sure we can wrap it up. But if we can get that, that's a huge goal for us. It's great to have home-court advantage and that first-round bye as well," the third-year forward said.
There's more, said Morrison, allowing himself to think a little further ahead than he wants his players thinking, with two national championship appearances and one OUA title in his back pocket already.
"It ... means you don't have to face Carleton in the first round if you're lucky enough to get to the final four," Morrison said.
"However, at the same time it doesn't mean anything because once playoffs start, anybody is capable of beating anybody on a given night and it's one loss and you're done."
The Wolves took a 40-27 lead into halftime and stormed out of the gate to start the third. After Andrew Melbourne struck from three-point land to cut the lead to a dozen, Thomson buried a trey of his own, followed by hoops from Yoosrie Salhia and Venzal Russell, who finished with 20, and LU was up by 19, 51-32.
The lead was back down to 12 to open the fourth, but LU pulled away again, finally taking their foot off the pedal when time became too much a factor for the Warriors (4-14) to mount a comeback. Mike Wright led Waterloo with a game-high 26, 13 in each half. The Warriors were once again without leading scorer Cam McIntyre.
Beyond the arc: Injured LU forward Brendan King (shoulder) said he hopes to be back on the court next weekend in Brock ... Salhia, who only managed two points on Friday, had 11 ... Adam Johnson followed his breakthrough, 26-point performance with a near double-double, netting a dozen points and grabbing seven rebounds, second to Russell's nine .. Thomson was 4-9 on three-point attempts.
